


Soul so bright

by deadflowers5



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Case Fic, Dean/Cas Reverse Bang 2021 (Supernatural), Destiel Reverse Bang | Dean/Cas Reverse Bang (Supernatural), Falling In Love, M/M, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:49:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29958465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadflowers5/pseuds/deadflowers5
Summary: Castiel is looking for the Winchester boys, and find true love over a strange case.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester
Kudos: 3
Collections: Dean/Cas Reverse Bang 2021





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for deancebra my amazing artist, who helped me stick to the short timeframe, and gave this beautiful title.  
> [Check out the artis page](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29959866)
> 
> Another thanks to my friend Chris, who beta'd a fic from a fandom he knew nothing about.

It was no love at first sight. There were no thunderbolts or lightning. No rain or romantic music in the background. But how could he not fall in love with a soul so bright?

~~~~

The room was in a run-of-the-mill small town, in a seen-better-days hotel. This was why he managed to find the man in the room at all: because this was his usual hunting ground. It still took him the better half of a week. But finally he was here.

It looked like the man was searching for something, apparently by himself, going over every piece of furniture the place had.

"Dean," said the angel quietly, "what are you looking for?"

The man in the room jumped and quickly turned around.

"Castiel! How good to see you!"

"Are you actually happy to see me?" Now the angel was a little bit confused. "I thought you wanted to hide yourself from me. This was why you were blocking the signal."

"What signal are you talking about?"

"The one that helps me find you," answered Castiel in his matter-of-fact way.

"Oh, _that_ ... signal," said Dean and turned around to resume his search.

After another five minutes of searching every nook and cranny, he apparently found what he was looking for: a picture of an old woman. Attached to it was some paper: an ordinary case file, by the look of it. His whole expression changed but Castiel couldn't read the sentiment behind it.

"Let's blow this joint Castiel. Can you beam us up?"

"Beam? Is this some kind of reference that I don't get?"

"Yeah, sadly that's the case, but fear not my brave knight, I'll teach you the joy of meaningless popcorn movies. But first thing first, let's go."

"Without Sam? Where is he anyway?" Castiel looked around the place again like he was expecting Sam to turn up from under a tipped over chair.

"Oh, don't you worry about him. He found some lead, that he wanna follow up... alone. He will join us in a couple of days. Let's go."

Apparently not one who was disobeying a direct order, the angel touched Dean's shoulder and in the next second the room was empty again, with only the upturned furniture left to tell the tale.

~~~~~

The case that Dean had picked was really strange. Even for them. The elderly lady in the picture was actually part of a set. Triplets. And she was old. Like as old as Methuselah. The angel hadn’t realised it at first because for him everybody under a millennium was just wearing diapers.

But the weeks he was spending with the hunter had taught him a lot about humanity. Or rather one human being in particular.

And why was the case so strange? Not just because of the ladies' age. (Though that alone was curious enough.) More like the way Dean had been pursuing this hunt, seemingly at odds with his brother, who still hadn’t joined them even after the lead he was following apparently didn't pan out.

He called Dean a couple times a week, and more times than not they had a big argument, which meant another week or so of radio silence.

And in the meantime whatever they managed to dig up, he and Dean, pointed in the same direction: that strange longevity aside, the ladies were boringly normal. Maybe to somebody not totally cut off from society it would have looked peculiar that these three sweet old ladies were without any family to speak of and they didn't live together or at least not in the same city. But no such suspicion could arise in the angel, and the human didn't mention it either. Instead, they went on a cross-country trip, looking for clues.


	2. Chapter 2

There were no thunderbolts or lightning. No rain or romantic music in the background. The dark surrounded him, and the brightest light that shone was coming from the soul whose shoulder he had touched to pull them out and send them on a new adventure - the first of many they were going to have together.

~~~~~~~~~

They were sitting in an ancient Ford truck, which was par for the course since Dean left the upturned room behind with his little brother. And apparently also his beloved Impala.

They were on the lookout in front of the second lady's - Gladys' - house. They had been following her around for days now: from the grocery shop to the library, from the book club to her home. Wherever they could get away with it. The car was quiet, which had been fairly normal in the last couple of days when Dean was contemplating something. The angel let him. He found himself more and more content with the days passing, even though they weren’t doing anything other than sitting quietly in a car looking for an answer that would solve this case. To tell the truth, he didn’t actually want to solve the case. There was nobody in imminent danger, and even the chances of a long term one looked pretty slim. For the first time in his long life he was satisfied that he was there of his own accord, not because somebody else had given him an order.

He wanted to stay in this car with this man in this quiet side street and do nothing forever.

So typical of Dean, this was the moment he chose to break the silence with a determined look.

"I think the answer is with their third sister. Me and Sam didn't find anything with the first one, Betty. And you and I have wasted enough days as it is, following Gladys." 

"But what are we really looking for? I know you said they are connected to this case you two were working on. Shapeshifters. But we checked her and there were no strange reflections in any cameras."

"This is what makes this case a pretty dangerous one," replied Dean. "Can you imagine? A shapeshifter with nothing to give them away. There's nothing to help pick them out at first glance."

"But silver still works on them, doesn't it? She touched that handrail that you'd changed," said Castiel. 

This latest experiment happened a day ago. And Gladys passed it with flying colors like she did every other one before. The angel was sure the same thing had happened with Betty, otherwise Dean would still be with his brother back in that upturned motel room. The thought gave him a heartache for some reason. 

Moreover, he was absolutely convinced that the ladies' case was nothing but a result of some lazy book-keeping; somewhere down the line somebody recorded their year of birth wrong and because they never got married or had children, the the error was never noticed. Yes, he was thinking about this for a while. Not like he knew a lot about human bookkeeping of birth records, more like absolutely nothing at all, but an awkward conversation with a local DMV’s employee while Dean went to queue at some greasy hamburger place, shed some light on it. Not a lot mind you, it was still bureaucracy at its finest, but the reasonable doubt was there. 

The only question was why Dean didn't see it this way. There was something behind his stubborn refusal to see this case as it was: a simple human error.

Of course Castiel was no better. Any time before he teamed up with the Winchester brothers for a job, it was only a means to an end. When the task was finished he went on his merry way, finding, preventing, fighting, before he found another task to bring before the brothers. Sometimes the hunters needed him, oftentimes he needed them. There were no sitting around in old trucks or quiet talks during a movie marathon in an even older motel room. Something had changed, and the angel had no name for it.


	3. Chapter 3

There were no thunderbolts or lightning. No rain or romantic music in the background. The dark and the brightest light polar opposite. The adventure was new, making him spend more time on Earth than ever before. But he’d found something that he never knew he would ever have: Love.

~~~~~~~~~~

The room was shrouded in shadows; the only noise was coming from the ancient TV in the corner. The hunter and the angel were sitting on the bed closer to the bathroom. In normal times that would have been Sam's place, but this was nothing like their normal times.

On the TV a huge shark was unrealistically breaking apart some boat, piece by piece. It was Shark Week. Since Dean made his mission to educate Castiel on the fine points of popcorn movies, they’d gone through a lot of 'classics'. But when the angel first watched Shark Attack 3, he was absolutely fascinated. Since then they'd seen all of them. Sadly, Castiel still couldn’t tell the difference between a 'so bad it's almost good' or a just plain bad movie. And the hunter didn't care as long as something got blown up in the end.

But tonight neither of them focused on the TV or the bad dialogue. There was an almost palpable tension in the air.

"Cas," said Dean, almost noiselessly. This was the first time he shortened his name like this. "I wanna ask you something."

The angel turned his way, signaling that he was listening.

"What do you think of this case? I'm pretty certain that the ladies are human. Anyway, nobody’s ever seen a shapeshifter without flares, right?" continued Dean with a forced laugh.

"I don’t think so," confirmed Castiel but still waited for the other man to go on.

"What happens if we make a mistake? If we leave some potentially dangerous creatures at large?" 

"I don't think they are."

Castiel saw that the hunter was not satisfied with this answer. He was searching for something, a specific thing. And that was what kept him in this loop.

"Even if they're shapeshifters, they are harmless."

"A harmless monster? There's no such thing."

"I believe there is," said the angel with sincerity.

It looks like this was the absolution Dean was looking for because his eyes changed and they were even more determined.

"So I think we should move on. I mean I wanna move on. I read that two towns over there's this haunted house. Two kids are missing. What do you think? I mean do you wanna come with me?" The last part was said like how he started. Almost noiselessly.

The other man was lost in thought. Could this be the reason that an open and shut case has been occupying them for weeks now? Does Dean really want him to hunt with them?

"Do you want me to join you? You and Sam?"

"No, just me. You and me. It would be just us for a while." Dean looked at him with such openness in his beautiful green eyes that he couldn't say no. The angel didn't want to say no. So he didn't.


	4. Chapter 4

Intermission

The two men approached the motel slowly from opposite sides. They moved steadily around the building, the little noise their steps were making were eaten up by the time they reached their goal. They were big and deadly and absolutely furious. The upsetting news they got about the two men on the other side of the hotel's walls made them a force to be reckoned with. 

The room was partly lit up by a nearby sign that promised vacant rooms with a TV. It looked like the pledge was to be taken almost literally because when they peered into the room they saw a table with only one chair, a TV in the corner and one bed. But what they saw on the bed was making them stop in their advance and look at each other in utter confusion.

"They are watching Shark Attack?" asked the shorter one (which didn't say much as both of them towered over an average man).

"Really, Dean? That's your problem with the picture?" retorted the long-haired one with apparent resignation over the conversation.

"Yes, that's my _problem_ , Sammy." Dean put extra emphasis on the word problem. "You said yesterday that Shark Week is next week."

"Oh, for love's sake… Focus!"

"What, don't tell me that you have a problem with two men having sex. You didn't say anything this morning when I…" Sam put his hand on his brother's mouth to stop his retort.

"Bitch."

"Jerk," came the usual answer when Dean's mouth was free again. "So what's the game plan? Going in all guns blazing?" 

Sam's answer was only a shrug. Yes. Definitely weird, even for them.


	5. Chapter 5

There were no thunderbolts or lightning. No rain or romantic music in the background. But during this adventure on Earth he fell in love. With somebody who was much more than meets the eye. A soul so bright.

~~~~~~

Castiel didn't want to say no. So he didn't. He followed Dean on to the next case that he’d found with the missing kids, who were thankfully still alive at the time they managed to crack the code to the underground lair, where the original owner in his incorporeal body was wreaking havoc.

Solving the case and saving the people felt amazingly right to the angel. Like this was his purpose all along. Especially with this hunter by his side.

That night was the first time they’d ever kissed.

Two days later Dean found another case: vampires. Another week later in turn actual zombies. The hunter was like a kid in a candy store in the beginning till he actually had to nail a corpse to the coffin. Yes, the movies usually omit the smell and the noise of the breaking bones.

All things aside, their solo hunts went much better than Castiel had ever anticipated. And whatever it was that Dean had told his brother, he simply didn't call again.

~~~~~

Their first time was in a room like any other they had encountered during the months they became permanent hunting partners. Complete with ugly, moldy wallpaper and the flickering light from the TV. It was Shark Week again, which made Castiel smile. Yes, sometimes he did that now. Spending so much time with a human made him feel things. Or maybe just this man did.

On the other hand, Dean himself changed too. He went out of his way to make him see how much he meant to him. He had problems putting things into words, but simple gestures, like staying put when his favourite movie week was on came easily. Their time together came even more easily.

They were on the bed naked, completely wrapped up around each other. Dean kissed his mouth and his skin and every part of him that he could reach, which in turn made him kiss back, finding that sensitive spot behind the other man's ear that always left him speechless. Nothing existed outside their little bubble; this is why they didn't hear the noises from the slowly opening front door till it was too late.

"Hands up!" The voice was as familiar to the angel as his own vessel's. "No sudden movement!"

Both men sat up on the bed quickly and turned to the other two figures wielding an arsenal of weapons by the entrance.

"Shit!" This was Dean's voice from the other side of the room and when Castiel turned his head to the side he saw the same jaw line, the same freckles and the same green eyes. Everything the same, except the Dean by the door was equally shocked and pissed off while the Dean on the bed was just resigned.

"Castiel? What is this? I mean Bobby called us about you and Dean doing hunts," clarified Sam. Looking at him, he was as shocked as his brother but a little less annoyed. Maybe because his meatsuit was not duplicated without his approval. At least not right now and not in this room. Probably. You never know with a vessel as powerful as the Winchester's.

"I don't know Sam," was his honest answer. 

"Okay, who are you? I mean what are you?" The disgust was evident in Dean's voice. "And what is this little stunt you are pulling? Start talking right now or I'll find a way to kill you as painfully and as slowly as humanly possible."

"Can I…" Fake Dean cleared his throat, "Am I allowed to dress up and explain?"

Sam didn't say anything just looked at the clothes at the foot of the bed and nodded his head. 

~~~~~~

After the awkward dress up, they handcuffed Fake Dean to the room's only chair which was as rickety as the whole sparse furnishing and did nothing apart from giving them the illusion of the upper hand.

The real older Winchester sat on the table in front of him, never once lowering his gun, while the other two men were left standing as silent sentinels on his side.

"Talk."

"I'm a Shapeshifter." And with this revelation, the fake one looked at Castiel who was still as a statue and gave nothing away. "I’ve heard about the Whinchester brothers, but honestly, who that has anything to hide hasn’t? And I have because probably I'm the only one whose eyes don't give him away."

"This is why you were pursuing that old lady’s case? You thought they were the same as you?" asked the angel without any emotion in his voice.

"Yes. I thought… never mind." The shapeshifter lowered his head.

"Did you think they could answer the question why you were different?"

"No. I thought they knew how not to be a monster."

This caused Dean to lower his gun. "I need a fucking drink for this."

"I’ve been keeping to myself my whole life, going under the radar, trying not to be suspicious. In this huge country I thought I'd be okay. And then no other but the infamous Winchester brothers came to my town. Of course, I had to find out what they were doing. So I changed into Dean to go in the room and the information was there. I thought this was what I’d been looking for my whole life."

"You keep repeating this," Sam interrupted the story. "Your whole life. How old are you exactly?"

"I think 150? Not like I have a birth certificate."

"Huh. I guess, the perks of ever changing cells." 

"Okay, Sam, if you’ve satisfied your curiosity, can we move on?" added Dean a bit impatiently. "I still don't know why he… Wait a minute, are you a he?"

"Yes, I'm male. Most of the time. My name is Jensen."

"What kind of name is that? Danish?"

By this point, Dean's patience had finally run out. "Sammy, I know you have a hard on for the geeky stuff but can we move on, please?"

"Sammy…" Everybody turned to the angel, who still didn't move a muscle. "You always said Sam. Whenever you pretended to talk to him over the phone. You never once called him Sammy. This should have been a clue."

After a minute of silence, Jensen continued his story looking at the angel. "So, I was in the room, going through all the stuff, to find Betty's case file when all of a sudden you appeared. And I'd never seen anything more beautiful in my life. So I made a snap decision to ask you to come with me. And this was the best decision of my life."

The room shrouded in silence. The moment between the two supernatural beings held everybody captive. The silence stretched out among them until the human couldn't take it any more.

"Castiel?" asked the older brother, "Do you trust him?"

"The times we were together we saved a lot of people, two kids and a cat. He never did anything bad. Yes, I trust him." Jensen's face lit up beautifully, otherworldly and once not only Castiel but also Sam couldn't tear his eyes away from it, Dean put his foot down. Literally. On his baby brother's foot.

"I see we'll have a chick flick happy ending coming. But I'll have one condition before we all hug it out." When the hunter had everybody's attention, he added, "He has to change his meatsuit."

~~~~~~~

It was no love at first sight. There were no thunderbolts or lightning. No rain or romantic music in the background. In fact he didn't even know this was their first sight. He followed the light from the room to new adventures and a new life because how could he not fall in love with a soul so bright?


End file.
